In ancient Palestine there were 613 rules, determined by the rabbis from within the Law of Moses (the first five books of the Old Testament) that were binding to the Jews; 245 of these were positive commands corresponding to the number of parts of the body, and 365 of them were negative commands corresponding to the number of days of the year. These 613 commandments governed every area of human life and interaction and were considered by the rabbis to be equal to each other and equally binding.
In Matthew 22 Jesus entered Jerusalem for the final time and even in this, the week leading to his crucifixion, the Pharisees were determined to trip Jesus up on questions centered in the law in a three-round theological smack-down.
Round One: The Pharisees tested Jesus’ loyalties to God or man by asking whether it’s was right to pay taxes to Caesar and Jesus came back by flashing a coin bearing the image of Caesar. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”Jesus 1. Pharisees O.
Round Two: Next they quiz Jesus on the Levirate law that requires a man to marry his deceased brother’s wife if his brother died without a son. “If a man dies without a son and his brother marries his widow but he too dies before a son and each of the remaining five brothers in turn marry her but die before a child is born, in heaven to whom of the seven brothers will she belong?” Jesus answering by telling them their question reveals they don’t even understand the Scriptures or the power of God. “At the resurrection people won’t be married or given into marriage but will be like the angels. God is God of the living and not the dead.”Jesus 2. Pharisees 0.
Round Three: With the first two rounds going unanimously to Jesus, one of the heavy-hitters among the Pharisees decides to go after Jesus by asking him which is the most important of all the commandments in the law, or which of those 613 laws is greater than the others. While we know the motive of the questioning was to trap Jesus, the intention of the question is less certain but a possibility is the Pharisees were thinking if they could get Jesus to name one of the laws or a set of laws (ceremonial, purity, property, moral) as greater than the others, he could be seen as disparaging the rest of the Law. Not a good thing to do.
The other answer Jesus could have given would have been to give the right answer, that being that all the Law came from God and therefore every commandment of the Law was great. That would have been the traditional orthodox answer. The problem was had Jesus given the right answer, the Pharisees would have then volleyed back at him by asking him to then explain how it was, with all the Law being great and from God, that he and his disciples had on occasion broken some of the Law. What the Pharisees seems to lose sight of was that Jesus never violated the Law of God. What he was breaking in allowing his disciples to gather grain on the sabbath, or to eat without ceremonial washing of their hands or not chiding an unclean woman for touching him (Matthew 15:1-6Matthew 15:1-6
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
15 1 Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is given [to God]; 6 he shall not honor his father. And ye have made void the word of God because of your tradition. , Luke 6:1-4Luke 6:1-4
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
6 1 Now it came to pass on a sabbath, that he was going through the grainfields; and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day? 3 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and they that were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests alone? , John 5:8-18John 5:8-18
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
8 Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the sabbath on that day. 10 So the Jews said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. 11 But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up [thy bed], and walk? 13 But he that was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee. 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. 16 And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. 18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. ,Luke 11:37-41Luke 11:37-41
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
37 Now as he spake, a Pharisee asketh him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. 38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first bathed himself before dinner. 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now ye the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. 40 Ye foolish ones, did not he that made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, all things are clean unto you. ) was the code of interpretation that had been added in layers to the law by the rabbis. Jesus violated the tradition of the elders (Pharasaic law and oral interpretation) but not the divine law of God. How often do we as Christians accuse other believers of being disobedient to the Word of God when in reality, all that’s been violated is a particular human interpretation of Scripture?
Okay. Back to how Jesus ended up answering the final question.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
That’s right. Jesus 3. Pharisees O.
The answer Jesus gave was two-fold. First, he quoted a portion of the Shema found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5Deuteronomy 6:4-5
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
4 Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: 5 and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. . “Love the Lord your heart with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind,” The Shema is central to Judaism. It’s the prayer spoken every morning and evening, the first prayer children learn, and the prayer encapsulated in mezzuzot and affixed to the door frame of every Jewish home. Jesus could have chosen no more meaningful or familiar words to speak into the moment.
Before anything else, Jesus said that we must first love God with all that we are; in our full human and spiritual totality. It’s a love so deeply grounded within our spirits that we can’t separate any part of ourselves from our love for God. Love for God is embodied in emotions (heart), deeply rooted within the core of our being (soul) and woven into our intellectual thought life (mind). This all consuming devotion and love for God is the first and greatest commandment.
And then, as with the Gospels elsewhere, Jesus linked love for God with love for neighbor; neighbor being all people, ally or enemy. Jesus was asked to give one great commandment but instead he gives two that are equal and inseparable; love God and love others. The one isn’t secondary to the other but both are essential to the other because to love God is to love others, and to love others is to love God. Again, the love Jesus referred to doesn’t consist of mushy sentimentality but is a commitment to covenantal love; steadfast, committed, accountable and active. This is the quality of love we’re to hold for ourselves and extend to others, friend or foe. This is the ethic of love demonstrated in the life and teaching of Jesus earthly ministry; an ethic of love grounded in and flowing from God.
By citing love for God and love for others as the greatest commandment Jesus wasn’t suggesting that the law of love replaced or abolished the need for all the other commandments. What Jesus was proposing was that all the law was to be interpreted and applied in consideration of this ethic of love, and not only the law of God but also all the words of the Prophets. Every written word of God’s law and every spoken word of the Prophets hinged on how it held up to the Law of Love. Love is the first consideration and the final reflection. I know claiming Jesus was a radical is a worn cliché but in this case, I’m going to succumb. This is Jesus’ teaching in its most radical and pure form. This is what it was all about. His life. His purpose. His message. Love. God’s love. Love for God. Love of self and love for neighbor.
I’m not an ethicist. I’m just a person like you who wants to live ethically and morally in this world. I’m a Christian who desires that the choices I make for my life embody my faith and reflect some glimmer of the love and grace of God. Socrates said that “The truly wise man will know what is right, do what is good and therefore be happy.” There’s incredible spiritual truth in that; that when you know what’s right (what God desires) and you do it, it will lead you to happiness. Even if it comes at a price there’s contentment and inner peace in knowing you’ve done the thing that seems most right in your understanding before God. But how is it that we become, in Socrates’ words, truly wise? I think I’m becoming convinced more and more that true wisdom is ultimately found by those who hang everything on Jesus’ law of love. This love is more than able to determine everything. This love is more than enough to guide every ethical decision before us.
I’m not done on this topic. I want to spend more time talking about how Jesus’ law of love can lead and shape us, and how it can be helpful in the ethical decisions we make from who we sleep with to how we spend our money to whether we live green to how as queer believers we’re to respond to injustice everywhere.
I want to talk more about all this but for now I just want to be with it.
